James Whittaker
Nov 24, 2021 · 7 min read
James Whittaker
Nov 24, 2021 · 7 min read
The 7 Myths Of Executive Hiring
Why Most VP, Director or Exec-Level Job Searches End in Failure
I remember it clearly.
There I was, standing on the 37th Floor of the Rockefeller Center in NYC, reading the horrifying statistic that 83% of executives give up a job search because they fail to secure even one offer after six months of trying.
You see, I'd spent the last few years as a Director at the world's largest consulting firm, Deloitte, and a big part of my role was interviewing top executives in the field.
I therefore knew better than anyone how important moving companies is for your career progression, both to avoid stagnation and to massively improve earning potential.
And it was then, at that precise moment, that I decided to be part of the solution to the problem of executive job search failure.
Now fast forward to today, and after helping more than 2,000 clients secure $40m+ in salary increases, and a whole heap more in terms of fulfillment and impact in their work, I now want to share with you the lessons I've learned.
Here are the seven biggest myths of the executive hiring process.
Myth #1 - All Roles Are Advertised Online
Let's get clear on something, unless you're hoping to land a government job, employers are NOT required to advertise openings anywhere.
As Bridget Miller from HR Advisor rightly states: "Employers are free to post job openings when doing so is the best course of action, and to refrain from doing so when they’re so inclined."
So companies are not obliged to advertise their openings, but do they typically do it anyway? Does the story change for executive-level roles?
Are job boards a good place to start your job search?
In short, no.
Job boards are terrible places for executives to search for new roles. Just 10% of high-level openings, on average, are ever advertised online.
Where are the rest of these opportunities, the other 90%? They're locked away inside what's known as the "hidden" job market.
It's "hidden" because you cannot "find" these roles yourself, however hard you look. Instead, you have to be introduced to them by the right people.
The right people, in this case, are reputable executive recruiters and, as important but much less utilized, other executives.
Only by making your desire for a certain role known to these people will you ever unlock the 90% of executive opportunities that are out there waiting for you right now.
So let's put this first myth to the sword. Not all roles are advertised online, and the opportunity that you do find online is extremely limited compared to what is truly out there.
Myth #2 - It's Beneficial Being "Open To All Opportunities"
Let's say you need life-saving surgery and there are two doctors willing to perform it.
One is a world renowned specialist who has successfully completed 1,000 similar surgeries.
The other is a generalist who is fairly sure he can remember how to do it from his medical school training 20 years ago.
Who do you choose? Would you care that #1 cost more than #2?
In our modern world, the specialist always beats the generalist. It's why surgeon #1 will make millions while surgeon #2 will be lucky to break a few hundred thousand.
Today, you're paid for your specialism.
Why then do I see so many senior professionals present themselves as generalists in the job search?
It comes down to fundamental misunderstanding of the hiring process.
I once had a client, Richard, the President of a large US subsidiary, who told me that he wanted to focus on 7 different types of opportunities. From Fortune 500 VP to small boutique CEO (and everything in between).
Unsurprisingly, he'd been trying to secure one of these opportunities for 9 months.
The problem with this approach, I told Richard, is that it's physically impossible to create a resume, LinkedIn profile and value proposition that specifically showcases your value for all those different types of roles.
Instead, the only options you have is to: a) go generic, or b) create 7 versions of everything. Neither of those are good options (and with LinkedIn specifically, it's against their terms to create more than 1 profile).
By opening yourself up to more opportunities, you're lowering your chances of securing any one of them.
What you need to do instead, and this is something we require of our clients, is to be bold and pick one. Pick the role that you most want to get and are most likely to get.
Being open to anything that comes along is a recipe for disaster. Instead, focus everything you've got on proving yourself as the de facto candidate for the type of role you most want to get.
Myth #3 - A Great Resume Is Enough
If I was paid a dollar for every time someone came to me and said "James, I paid someone to rewrite my resume but nothing changed" then I'd have a very nice car sitting in my garage.
A great resume is an important piece of the job search puzzle, but it isn't the entire puzzle.
A great resume on it's own does nothing.
It doesn't help you unlock the hidden job market. It doesn't help you sell your value during a conversation with a key decision maker.
A resume is simply a tool, and it's why I disdain companies that sell executive resume writing services. Selling a piece of the puzzle is equivalent to taking your broken down car and repainting it. Sure it might look nice, but it's not going to get you to work on time.
If you're willing to pay someone for help with your job search -- which you should be if the investment is going to mean a cash positive return -- then make sure you pay for help with the whole thing.
A great resume, on it's own, does nothing.
Myth #4 - Executive Recruiters Work For You
Over the years I've seen many "career gurus" say that all you need to find is a great executive recruiter to work with.
There's a problem with that thinking.
Now don't get me wrong, we introduce our clients to executive recruiters all the time. They can be incredibly valuable because they spend eight hours a day finding executives to fill positions.
But therein lies the fundamental problem.
Their job is finding executives to fill positions, not finding positions for executives.
They "work" for the position (or more precisely, the company hiring for the position) and not the executive.
They do not work for you. To them, you're a commodity that may help them earn their giant commission check.
Which means executive recruiters will help you, but only insofar as it helps them. The flip side is that they'll also leave you in the dust if it suits them.
My advice? Treat executive recruiters the way they treat candidates -- as a useful commodity.
Myth #5 - Networking Is A Long Term Process
It takes our clients 0.5 conversations to secure a referral into a company they want to work at.
Yes, that's half a conversation.
Now I understand that having half a conversation is like digging half a hole, it's not possible, but here's how that statistic exists.
One of the key fundamentals of our approach to the executive job search is scale. In other words, getting your value proposition in front of as many of the right people as possible, as fast as possible.
(Remember, connecting with the "right people" is the only way to unlock the 90% of hidden opportunities out there).
The way we do this, with our "Referral Engine" process, enables our clients to have meaningful, value-driven conversations with decision makers very, very quickly.
The problem is, many executives get this completely wrong. They think that networking takes a very long time.
I agree with them. Networking for the purposes of building a strong network takes a long time. But in the job search that's not what we're doing. We're networking for the purposes of getting referrals, and that takes no time at all.
In fact, many decision makers will refer you into their hiring team without even speaking to you, if they immediately see the value you can bring.
That's why it takes our clients, on average, less than one networking conversation to get a gold-dust referral. Networking specifically for job searching does not take a long time.
Myth #6 - Interview Technique Is For Early Career Professionals
Most of our executive-level clients are extremely confident in their ability to do the job they want to get. Looking at what many of them have done in their careers, it's right that they should be confident.
Problem is, this confidence often becomes over-confidence in interviews.
You erroneously believe that because you know it all so well, the interview should be a breeze.
So what happens when it isn't? And you get rejected time and again? It's a situation many of our clients are in, and invariably they blame the interviewer.
"They didn't understand the value I can bring."
Sure they didn't, because you didn't explain it to them.
This is hard for many executives to hear, but in the job search nobody cares about what you've done. They couldn't care less that you have a PhD and 20 years at Google.
What they do care about, and the entire point of an interview, is how your experience relates to the problems they need solving and opportunities they need exploiting.
That's the key to passing every interview you ever have. Mold your experience around their requirements. It's foolproof.
Endlessly talking about your experience during an interview is not the way to do it, and will inevitable lead to failure.
You must learn how to prove yourself as the best candidate, because simply being the best is not enough.
Myth #7 - You Only Need One Offer
It takes the average VP, Director or Executive candidate 6-12 months to secure one offer in the job search.
There's a problem with that.
And it's not just the time it takes.
Securing one offer is an incredibly dangerous position to be in. It leads you into a binary decision - accept it and move on or stay in your current role.
When you receive one offer, especially if you haven't moved companies in a while, you have no clue whether the offer is valuing you at the market rate.
You also have nothing to compare your experience of the company culture against.
Here's a powerful example.
A recent client, Radima, wanted to secure a Director-level role in supply chain. After working together for 6 weeks she received an offer, and she wanted to accept it.
It was a good offer.
We advised her to wait, because the way our process works means that clients have many "irons in the fire" and so we knew more offers were coming.
That first offer was for a Director role, making $245k with a $20k sign on bonus. It was a 10% bump in her existing salary.
She liked the company, and it was a step up, but it wasn't her dream organization.
Two weeks later she had two more offers on the table.
The difference now? She was in control. She was no longer forced to make a binary decision.
We then gave her the advice we give all of our clients. She went back to each company and negotiated.
The first company, the one that had that made the initial offer that she was going to accept, aggressively refused to engage. It gave her a glimpse of what working there would have been like.
So she politely rejected the offer.
The other two companies, which were much more suited to how she wanted to work, ended up both offering her $280k with a $25k sign on bonus. She chose the best option for her.
Radima therefore ended up with a 25% pay increase working for a company that she loves.
But only because she secured multiple, concurrent offers. Multiple offers to compare and contrast and negotiate against.
If she hadn't got those two additional offers? She'd now be underpaid working at a company with a poor culture.
That's the importance of planning your job search so that you receive multiple offers at the same time. Don't leave yourself with a binary decision.
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